Thank-you

I am just back from a 1700 km road-trip through New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire (on the back of a motorcycle, no less). I thought I'd offer a general thank-you to all of my American friends for the hospitality extended throughout the journey. Everyone we met went above and beyond to and to help us have a fantastic time.

I am reminded of Kennedy's quotation:

"Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder."

A few thoughts:

No one does coffee better than you guys. Dunkin' Donuts was a surprise favourite. No one does hamburgers better, either. It's all about the meat and the bun -- we get the meat part in Canada, and drop the ball on the bun part.

Yeungling is tasty. But I find most of your microbrew IPAs too hoppy. I enjoyed the range of microbrews available -- a far cry from 20 years ago when it was Bud or Coors and that was all.

Paying before you pump is a waste of time and energy. Trust me, I am Canadian . . .

Is there a bylaw in Northern New York that you have to display all of your home's contents on the front lawn?

I love bunting and flags -- we don't fly enough flags in Canada.

Anyway, just a reminder to everyone that should you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods I'd be happy to extend a friendly hand with a beer to all.

Rob

Actually, my wife's family has a vacation spot up near you. They own land on Devil Lake near Westport. It's nice out there.

We're really just like you, except we don't punt on third down like a bunch of girls.

jg

You are welcome.

Yuengling IS tasty. It makes me angry that we can't get it here in Mass, but then again, we get Narragansett, which is pretty good for a cheap lager. Plus we have lots of amazing microbreweries around here that produce some of the tastiest beer around.

Dunkin' Donuts are hit and miss. The original one is in the city where I work (Quincy, MA). There's no consistency in how they make your coffee. It can either be great or worse than toilet water. And we drink Iced Coffee year round. Oh, and we are the only ones that know how to make it right. They can't figure out how to make Iced Coffee the right way anywhere else in the country.

Now I want a burger....

Now in Canada, on the other hand, we have the mercilessly consistent "coffee" at Tim Horton's. No matter where you go (and there seems to be a Timmy's about every hundred yards) you get exactly the same paint thinner.

Sorry to threadjack. To return to what we're actually talking about, that IS a great region to visit.

JG Pasterjak wrote: We're really just like you, except we don't punt on third down like a bunch of girls. jg

Too bad you skate like a bunch of girls.

Awesome, it's always great to hear someone give positive feedback on the US for a change. :-)

ZOO wrote: But I find most of your microbrew IPAs too hoppy. I enjoyed the range of microbrews available -- a far cry from 20 years ago when it was Bud or Coors and that was all.

For some reason hops has become the calling card of the American microbrew scene. I love it, but I still laugh because there will be one pilsner, one stout, and 15 different pale ales. Perfect for me but I know tastes are different so it's funny to see them cater so much to one particular type of beer drinker.

Ahhh...aren't IPAs suppose to be hoppy?

RossD wrote: Ahhh...aren't IPAs suppose to be hoppy?

There's hoppy, and then there's HOPPY! Like spices -- you can have delicious and spicey, or you can have so spicey that's all I can taste spicey. But yes, an IPA originally had more hops to preserve them as they were exported from the UK to India.

Too much hops overwhelms all the other flavours, in my opinion.

One of our local microbrews kept losing a national competition to beers that had tons of hops in them. So they made a massively hoppy beer that was something like 8x hopped, and called it "Kiss My Bitter Ass." I don't know if it won but I do know it was delicious. ;-)

RossD wrote: Ahhh...aren't IPAs suppose to be hoppy?

Yes. But many American (particularly West Coast) breweries take this to the extreme. There's still supposed to be some sort of balance to be had.

I still find the American style ones enjoyable, but they're really a style all their own and distinct from "real" IPAs at that point.

I've yet to find a beer that was too hoppy. Bring on the hops!

Also burgers. Bring on the burgers!

RossD wrote: an IPA originally had more hops to preserve them as they were exported from the UK to India.

Actually they added more malts to bring the alcohol level up. It is the alcohol that allows beers to last longer. They added more hops to balance the flavors out. A traditional styled IPA should be a well balanced beer, just stronger than a regular pale ale. It most certainly shouldn't be a pale ale with a E36 M3load more hops poured in but that is what most of them tend to be. I think that Oregon is mostly to blame for the current hop crazy beers. When Terminal Gravity IPA came out 12 years ago it was so hoppy that it was astringent, but after one or two of them every other beer seemed flavorless. That pretty much set off the war of the IPA's where each brewery just kept escalating.

ZOO wrote: Too much hops overwhelms all the other flavours, in my opinion.

I agree with you very much.

I'm pleased you had an enjoyable trip through that area; I know I'm always pleased when I visit my family up there.